49th Vuelta a Espana 1994

Rominger Domination Times 3

The 49th edition of the Vuelta a Espana was held from April 25 to May 15, 1994. The race course consisted of 20 stages covering a total of 3,531.6 km. Defending champion Tony Rominger started the race as the big favorite to win again this year. Among his major contenders were ONCE’s Alex Zulle and a retiring Pedro Delgado.

SPECIAL NOTE: Pedro Delgado, one of Spain’s greatest riders, announced his intention to retire from professional cycling and bid farewell to the Vuelta in 1994.

Defending champion Tony Rominger, twice champion of the Vuelta (in 1992 and 1993), showed his strength from the opening prologue TT in Valladolid. He left little doubt who was the man to beat when he rode away from everyone on the Stage 6 mountain finish.

Rominger attacked Zulle, who was not able to follow him, and put fellow Suisse rider out of contention in the General Classification. The Spanish riders, led by a young Spanish climber Mikel Zarrabeitia, became the major threats to Rominger’s race lead.

Two stages later the 39.5 km Individual Time Trial in Benidorm Rominger put the race out of sight. The stage win gained Rominger another 2’17”, putting the GC time gap to 4 minutes.

The Podium: Zarrabeitia (L), Rominger (C), Delgado (R)

Unchallenged in the General Classification Tony Rominger rode into Madrid to claim his record setting third consecutive Vuelta a Espana victory. Rominger also had six stage wins and held the race leader’s Maillot Amarillo from start to finish.

Laurent Jalabert easily won the Maillot Violeta

The final stage into Madrid resulted in Frenchman Laurent Jalabert's seventh stage win. Jalabert easily won the Maillot Violeta (Point’s Jersey).

SPECIAL NOTE: 1994 marked the last time that the Vuelta a Espana was held in the spring. The race was moved to an August-September time frame in 1995.

Stage and Distance	Stage Winner	Race Leader
Stage 1 Valladolid, 9 km ITT	Tony Rominger (Sui)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 2 Valladolid-Salamanca, 178.4 km	Laurent Jalabert (Fra)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 3 Salamanca-Caceres, 239 km	Laurent Jalabert (Fra)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 4 Almendralejo-Cordoba, 235.6 km	Endrio Leoni (Ita)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 5 Cordoba-Granada, 166.9 km	Laurent Jalabert (Fra)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 6 Granada-Sierra Nevada, 151.7 km	Tony Rominger (Sui)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 7 Baza-Alicante, 256.5 km	Simone Biasci (Ita)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 8 Benidorm-Benidorm, 39.5 km ITT	Tony Rominger (Sui)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 9 Benidorm-Valencia, 166 km	Jean-Paul Van Poppel (Ned)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 10 Igualada-Andorra, 205 km	Angel Camargo (Spa)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 11 Andorra-Cerler, 195.3 km	Tony Rominger (Sui)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 12 Benasque-Zaragoza, 226.7 km	Laurent Jalabert (Fra)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 13 Zaragoza-Pamplona, 201.6 km	Laurent Jalabert (Fra)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 14 Pamplona-Cruz Demanda/Valdez, 174 km	Tony Rominger (Sui)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 15 Santo Domingo Calz.-Santander, 209 km	Alessio Di Basco (Ita)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 16 Santander-Lagos de Covadonga, 147.7 km	Laurent Jalabert (Fra)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 17 Cangas de Onis-Alto Naranco, 150 km	Bart Voskamp (Ned)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 18 Avila-Avila, 189 km	Giuseppe Calcaterra (Ita)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 19 Avila-Destilerias DYC, 171 km	Marino Alonso (Spa)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 20 Segovia-Destilerias DYC, 53 km ITT	Tony Rominger (Sui)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
Stage 21 Destilerias DYC-Madrid, 165.7 km	Laurent Jalabert (Fra)	Tony Rominger (Sui)
	BEST CLIMBER PRIZE	Luc Leblanc (Fra)
	POINTS COMPETITION	Laurent Jalabert (Fra)

VaE 1993

VaE 1995

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